


Campaigns End

by ArmchairGM



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Violence, F/F, Gen, Homebrew Content, Kobolds, Minotaurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24512038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmchairGM/pseuds/ArmchairGM
Summary: When a kobold tribe starts attacking merchant caravans, a veteran adventuring party mounts an expedition; only to discover something far more dangerous and malevolent than they ever would have suspected. And can perhaps handle.





	1. Chapter 1

Adrik Silverstone ran a gauntleted hand over the smooth stone walls. "These tunnels aren't right."

"Is your rock sense tingling?"

The dwarf nodded distractedly, scratching his short beard but didn't crack a smile. Menia made a face, her teasing ignored.

Ariadne moved beside him; hair done up in the latest style, her dark brown skin positively glowed in the torchlight, as effortlessly elegant in her green traveling dress here in the bowels of the earth as she would at some fancy ball.

She looked up the tunnels walls, trying to think back to her geology classes at the lyceum all those years ago. "What is it?"

"No tool marks on the stone. Kobolds may be decent tunnelers but they leave some kind of markings."

"The tunnel could be natural. An old aquifer they adopted."

Adrik shook his head, gesturing higher up the wall. "Then there'd be more striation on the walls. Iron or calcium residue left on the stone."

"Which means?" Menia said as Ariadne wandered back over to her, momentary interest in the irregularity waning.

"Not sure," Adrik rested a hand on his sword hilt absentmindedly as he wandered back towards the pair of them.

"I'm sure you'll figure out." Just over three feet tall Menia still had to reach up to pat the dwarf on the shoulder. "Come on, let's not let Ven get too far ahead." She nodded down the tunnel. Her halfling stride made it a pain to keep up with the rest of the party.

They set off again, Adrik taking point; brow creased in a frown as his eyes kept wandering back to the stone walls.

"There's a cave up ahead."

They all jumped as Venner stepped out of the shadows not five feet from them, lowering the hood of his cloak. Menia had brought up her warhammer, Adrik had raised his shield and put himself between Ariadne and looming figure, her hand raised and a spell half formed on her lips.

Pale, with dark hair, short beard and a surprisingly broad build that belied his demi-elf heritage; Menia had once -drunkenly- claimed the man could sneak up on his own shadow.

"Ven, start wearing a bell," Menia sighed as she lowered her weapon, flicking her braid back over her shoulder.

"That would defeat the point of not making a sound, little summer."

Menia made a face, despite how much she enjoyed the nickname and Ariadne rolled hers eyes, fighting a small smile. When they were delving the already enigmatic ranger became even more inscrutable and they could never tell if he was being facetious or not.

"A cave?" Adrik's said, before the conversation could be further derailed.

Venner nodded. "Around the corner, hundred yards ahead the tunnel opens up. Two kobolds and a minotaur on watch. Might be a trophy or treasure room. Maybe a temple. Lot of pedestals. Dragon statue on one of them."

Adrik's frown returned, eyes darting back to the tunnel walls. "That still doesn't seem odd to anyone else? Minotaur's and kobolds working together"

"You're over-thinking things, dear," Ariadne smiled. "Kobolds love digging their little tunnels and they're always being subjugated by one thing or another. Given the minotaur love of mazes it actually seems like a match made in the pit."

Adrik considered it; she had a point but minotuars weren't often what anyone would call 'team players' outside of their own tribes. Something didn't sit right with him about the whole situation and it itched at the back of his mind.

They'd maintained the element of surprise thanks to Venner's preternatural stealth skills and keen eyes leading them around the kobolds beloved traps, but the longer they lingered the more likely someone was to stumble over one of the sentries they'd silenced. They could handle a few kobolds, even with minotaur's backing them up, but given the sheer size of warren there were likely more than they could reasonably deal with.

"Anything else in the room?"

Venner shook his head. "No. But I could make out four other tunnels feeding into it, so there could be could be twice that." He gave them a brief outline of what he'd seen and Adrik quickly sketched out their plan of attack.

They checked over their gear; Adrik rolled his shoulders and neck, loosening the muscles, and Venner strung his bow, while Menia closed her eyes and gripped the symbol hanging from her necklace, mouthing a soft prayer before adjusting her hold on her shield. With a cheerful smile, Ariadne straightened and checked the tome and pouches on her belt.

"Alright then. Let's go ruin their day."

* * *

The minotaur tossed her head and let out a snort of irritation at her squandered skill.

One of mottled green, overgrown lizards she'd been put on guard duty with eyed her nervously and took a step closer to its companion, chattering in its primitive tongue. Adjusting the battle axe draped across her shoulders, one hoof pawed at the stone floor of the trophy room's entrance. She ached to lose herself in the frenzy and feel the spray blood instead of standing guard for hours on end in the company of these witless reptiles. For a moment she considered abandoning her post, heading to the surface to hunt and relish in the kill.

The sight of the tall minotaur statue off to one side of the grand hall, head back in a silent challenge chilled the blood in her veins and she pushed the thought-

Something smashed into her back. She turned, swinging a meaty fist to smite the kobold who'd dared challenged her. She hit air. She looked around, pain flaring where she'd been hit. Both kobolds were on the ground, black shafted arrows protruding from their small bodies. Fumbling behind her, it took her a moment to grab the quarrel protruding from her back. The thought to sound the alarm had just begun to occur to her when a crossbow bolt spattered it across the cave wall.

* * *

Adrik shook the worst of the gore from his bolt and reloaded his crossbow, slinging it across his back next to his javelin before picking up his shield as Venner reclaimed his arrows and Menia and Ariadne got a good first look at the cave.

Illuminated by flickering torches set into the walls and crude iron braziers occasionally set on the uneven floor, the cavern was nearly 100 feet wide and maybe half again as long, half a dozen other dark tunnel entrances studding the perimeter. Great stone pedestals rose up from the floor at seemingly at random, the smallest easily 6 feet tall. A few held intricately carved stone statues; the most prominent of a young dragon with its mouth open, easily 6 feet to the shoulder even on all fours with a crest running from top of its head down along its spine. Atop several others, coins and jewels caught the torchlight; offerings the kobolds had made to their idol? Squinting up at the ceiling, Ariadne could just make out what looked like holes in the cave roof, at the edges of the torchlight. Wurm tunnels from the caves earlier occupant, perhaps?

"There's a pit over there," Menia gestured a little closer to the center of the room as she extinguished their torch, the cave offering more than enough light. "Hide the bodies?"

Patrols had been spotty in the tunnels but they didn't want to risk one tripping over the sentries. Grabbing the minotaur by each arm she and Adrik dragged it towards the hole while Venner and Ariadne moved to keep an eye on the other entrances.

Menia glanced over the edge of the pit when they neared the edge of the roughly ten foot square hole, expecting another one of the kobolds beloved pit traps. Instead she jerked her head back, averting her eyes with a surprised squeak.

Adrik was reaching for his sword but she waved him off with a little laugh. "Sorry, there's a basilisk in the pit. Wasn't expecting it."

He snorted and together they pushed the corpse off the wooden platform that lined the edge of the pit. It landed with a meaty thud and a hungry sound echoed up from below.

"Do basilisks eat raw meat?" Adrik pondered as they each grabbed a kobold and repeated the process.

"I think so," Menia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "The traditional remedies for petrification call for basilisk saliva and stomach juices, so anything it eats is probably transformed back to be digested. Could be we're just saving it a step."

They both shrugged and pushed the bodies into the pit.

"If you two are finished playing with the locals, I'd quite like to find out what's going on and leave this forsaken place." Ariadne had made no secret she'd thought this job was beneath them. Menia and Adrik had spent the trip to the warren imitating her indignant tone when Menia had first suggested they investigate reports of kobold attacking travelers on the road.

"Kobolds. _Really_?" "Let them hire some ratcatchers!"

They shared a glance as it crept into her voice again.

"What's s-"

Venner's hand closed around Ariadne's mouth and he unceremoniously grabbed her about the waist, hauling her behind one of the stone pillars. Adrik and Menia followed his lead, ducking behind another.

They hadn't heard anything but they'd been traveling with the ranger long enough to trust his instincts. Seconds ticked by and half a dozen kobolds appeared from one of the far tunnels, chattering to each other and oblivious to the adventurers. They took their time meandering around the edge of the cavern, the party carefully shuffling to keep the pedestals between themselves and the patrol.

Individually and even in small groups they could handle the kobolds without much trouble, but with sheer numbers there was a chance the dragon-kin could overwhelm them.

Adrik had put it rather succinctly when they'd been considering their approach. "At a point, quantity has a quality all its own."

Menia and Adrik moved carefully as they could on the uneven floor, neither sharing the demi-elf's uncanny ability for silence. Menia tensed when her foot knocked a loose stone and it rolled across the floor.

Fortunately, the kobolds across the cave seemed too far away to hear.

Unfortunately, the trio of kobolds and the minotaur that emerged from the tunnel directly opposite her and Adrik, not twenty feet away, were much harder pressed to miss them.

Both groups froze.

Adrik went for his crossbow and Menia clutched at the symbol around her neck. Muttering a prayer, she gestured towards the patrol as the minotaur reached for the signal horn at his belt. The kobolds were slower to react. Two began to draw their daggers while the third fumbled for its sling. The heavy bolt took the minotaur in the shoulder and it roared in pain. Or tried to.

It opened its mouth, but there was no sound.

In fact, none of them could hear anything. Not footsteps on the stone. Not the clinking of armor or creaking of leather. Not even the sound of their own heartbeat or breath.

The minotaur blinked, disoriented. Seizing the signal horn from its belt, it blew hard as it could. Soundlessly.

Menia hefted her shield and warhammer. Adrik reloaded his crossbow.

Stepping forwards to meet the kobolds, Menia dodged one of their sloppy lunges. It was nice to face an opponent her own size for a change. Her hammer shattered the kobolds spine. It crumpled on the stone floor.

Realizing what the she'd done, Adrik raised his crossbow and shifted his aim. The heavy bolt punched through sternum of the kobold with the sling, the force knocking it back several feet.

Signal horn was all but useless, the minotaur tossed it aside. Lowering its bull head, it charged, nearly trampling over the remaining kobold.

Standing the minotaur was more than three times Menia's size. Bent almost double in its charge, it was still nearly twice her height. Menia danced back, interposing her shield between herself and the minotaur. Its horn gouged the wood and nearly ripped it from her grasp as she turned the blow aside.

Twisting, she used the momentum, swinging her hammer.

The minotaur wasn't nearly so tall when the blow connected with its ankle and it sprawled face first onto the cavern floor.

Shouldering his crossbow and casually drawing his sword, Adrik drove his blade between its shoulders. With wide terrified eyes, the final kobold turned to run. Adrik's blade cut into its waist, nearly cleaving it in two.

Their whole skirmish had taken half a dozen seconds and had taken place in absolute, eerie silence.

Menia risked a quick glance around the pillar, hoping the fates were on their side and the other patrol hadn't noticed the fight.

Across the cavern, two of the kobolds would have had an angle to see them had black arrows not been protruding from them and their nearby companions. One of the survivors with an arrow in its stomach had raised a signal horn to its lips. Another arrow took it through the eye and it collapsed.

Dropping the zone of silence around herself and Adrik, sound came rushing back and they heard the echo of the signal horn reverberating through the tunnels.

Adrik sighed. "Well, shit."


	2. Chapter 2

"Run or stand?"

"We could use the tunnels to bottleneck them. So they can't come all at once." Ariadne offered.

Venner had knocked an arrow, eyes darting from tunnel to tunnel, wary of any movement. "They know these tunnels. Could rush us from both sides. Bury us in bodies."

"Assuming they can't just bring it down on our head."

"Would limit you too, Ariadne. At least here you've got room to do what you do." Adrik's tone was distracted, mind running through dozens of possibilities like it was a game of regicide; weighing risks and each of the group's strengths and weaknesses.

Ariadne flashed him a dazzling smile, "you are so considerate, my dear."

Seconds ticked by and tension mounted as they waited for the Adrik to call the play; but they knew better than to rush him. Just as Venner knew stealth and the wilds, Menia knew medicine and religion, and Ariadne knew magic and the courts, Adrik knew tactics and strategy; having studied under some of the best in the Commonwealth.

After a few seconds he pointed to spot on the cave floor amid the pits and pedestals. "There."

With a few quick gestures he laid out positions and the party took their places. Venner, Menia and himself each at one corner of a triangle, Ariadne in the middle. The pits and stone pillars would keep the kobolds from charging all at once, limiting their approach and letting Menia, Venner, and himself deal with only a few at a time; Ariadne offering support where needed and picking off any large groups.

* * *

The first four kobolds emerged from one of the tunnels nearest Menia and let out a shrill battle cry when they saw her. Two loaded bullets into their slings, the others charged forward, blades drawn.

Menia spoke a prayer.

A translucent longsword of golden light flashed into existence in the air between the kobolds with the slings, the symbol of The Lady shinning at the cross guard. Leaving a shimmering afterimage in its wake, it cleaved cleanly through one of them, its partner letting out a frightened shriek as it stumbled back.

She met the other two head on. Blocking the first kobolds swipe with her shield, she knocked it aside, grunting as its partner's blade skidded across her breastplate. Her hammer connected with the first's chest. Frothy blood bubbled from its lips; shards of its shattered breastbone perforating its heart and lungs.

* * *

The wooden platform creaked as Adrik cut down two kobolds, and sent a third stumbling away. He ducked reflexively as bullet from a sling sailed past his head, shattering against a stone pillar.

He'd positioned himself on the side nearest a trio of tunnel entrances. Menia had her prayers and Venner his bow to deal with ranged opponents, but Adrik's crossbow was painfully slow to reload. His best bet was to give them as little chance to maneuver as possible and let Ariadne deal with any too far away.

Groups of kobolds and the occasional minotaur were emerging from the tunnels on all sides, faster than they could be put down. "Ariadne, if you wouldn't mind." He gestured to one of the tunnels.

Spellbook in one hand, Ariadne reached into the pouches on her belt with the other; droplets of water flying from her fingers and the small wax covered ball she pulled out. Breaking the wax seal with her thumbnail, she flicked the ball into the air and, muttering an incantation drew a line with her fingers across two of the tunnel entrances.

The ball exploded in a brilliant flash of light, sparks, and a garlic-like smell. A wall of fire erupted along the line she'd drawn; roaring flames almost loud enough to cover the screams of the kobolds and minotaurs in the tunnels as they tried to backpedal from the blazing heat.

"Thank you." Adrik called over his shoulder.

Half a dozen kobolds and a roaring minotaur, great axe in hand were forced to come at him almost single file between the wide stone pillar and a pit like the one he and Menia had dropped the bodies into. Sheathing his sword in the nearest kobold, Adrik took two quick steps to the side and drew the javelin from over his shoulder. Delicately carved moons and shooting stars wound their way up the slender wooden shaft.

Lining up his targets, Adrik hurled the javelin and spoke the one word he knew in the language of the sidhe.

"Strike!"

The javelin disappeared. A fork of lightning flashed through the line of kobolds. Smoking, twitching corpses dropped to the ground. Most didn't have a chance to cry out. The minotaur looked down at the javelin imbedded in its chest, the fur around it singed. A sharp metallic smell hung in the air like a storm had just passed; undercut by the scents of charred meat and burnt fur. Adrik pulled his sword out of the kobolds body and hefted his shield; tiny gnomish clockworks turning on its face. The minotaur's enraged roar shook the walls.

"Yeah, yeah." Adrik flicked the blood from his blade. "Let's go."

* * *

The ground between Venner and the tunnels was littered with corpses. Black hafted quarrels protruding from each of the kobolds dead or dying forms. Compared to the sidhe beasts and firstborn-blooded giants he'd hunted in the Duskwood, kobolds were easy targets. Small but predicable; each loosed arrow bringing another down.

He could hold his side for as long as he had arrows.

But his quiver was quickly emptying.

* * *

A bullet, loosed from a sling with bone shattering force stopped dead inches from Ariadne's ear; the light blue ripples of her wards briefly radiating out from the point of impact. She glanced at kobold who'd hurled it with irritation and flicked her wrist. A mote of light streaked towards the unfortunate creature and immolated it where it stood.

To one side, six kobolds were readying to charge Adrik, hoping to overwhelm him with their numbers. Ariadne shook her head. Spellbook open in one hand, she extended the other towards them and her fingers moved, as if plucking some invisible harp strings. Half a dozen motes of arcane energy burst into existence around her, shooting towards the kobolds. Leaving glittering trails in their wake, the missiles danced and twirled around each other like birds in flight; weaving over and around the stone pedestals to each strike one of the kobolds, scattering their broken forms.

The flood of kobolds had surged out of the tunnels and broke against the adventurers. Scores cut down by teamwork and experience.

Then a horrible sound echoed around the cavern. The surviving kobolds and minotaurs froze and even the adventures paused, searching for the source. Of the campaigners, only Ariadne recognized it for what it was. The language of the Outer Reaches, from the furthest edges beyond the veil.

" _V̭͎̠̙̼̦ͩ̋ͣ̍ͫ͛̊͐e̙͎͔̟͕̺̗͌ͪ̽̆́̏͋̍͞͡r̷̪͓̩̯͉̯͓͔ͬͯͣ̓̕͝mͤ̾ͥ̂̏̽̋̊ͯ҉̩̥̦͈̠ĩ̭̮̻͙̠̩͋̾͡͠ṅͨ̇̌̒̉̍̆҉̞̼̰̺̗̻̘̬_!"

Menia glanced about. "Oh, that's not a good sound."

_"T̨͕̳͍̗̮̲̦̽͛͂ͧ́͋ͬ̂ͅh̝̭͉͔͙̠̙́̇̔i̶̛͚̼̝̥͇̦͍͋̈͒͒̈ͪ͒͑͜e̛̠̻̘̖̫̍͗ͨ̓͢v̡̩̺̱̬̟͖ͪ̿͟i̝̹̟̠͕͎͚͊̔ͯ̃̉ͨn̔̂̀̃͑̀͊́͏̜͎̻͉͚̪̭͝g̝͖͑͌̏̇ͦ̚ ̶̨̘̟̱̗ͦͭͧ̂͐ͫͅp̷̜̃ͬ͟e̖̭̫͐̆̅̍ͤ̈̄s̮͕̬͕̘͉̯̑̔̒ͨ̋̉ͬ̕͝ṱ̝̳̺̟̳ͧͫͬ̄͋̉̋̐̑͠s̭̖͓͍̯̹̲̝͆̍́̈̀͢͝ ̭͍͖̟̏ͦ͂͆ͬͭͬ̽͢w̷̜̭̃̊̊ͨͫḣ̨͙̝ͤ̍̓͐͝͠ǫ̶̝̩̗̔̑ͨ̒ͧ͊̈́ͦ͜ ̵̨̙̮͙̻̭̯̫̞͚̒̾͐͆̈́̂̅t̓ͯ̈́͋͏̣̗̳̼̺̮͢͝h̰̮̣ͦ̏ͤͬ̔̍õ̶̩̰̝̠̻̓ͪͨ͛ͪ̅ͅu͇̞͛̌͞ͅg̨̠̬̳̗̺̳̩̈ͮ͗̀̽̌̊͗h̝͔̺͇̔̉͗ ͬ̄ͦ҉͉̘̞t̷̪͙̠̭̍ͩ͑͗ͮ̎͟h͉̟̬̩̆̇e̶̢͖̫̙͐̎̊͌ͮͩ̊y̼̥͕̠͓̜ͪ͊͋̾ͨͣ̐̀͘͢ͅͅ ̱̺̅ͪ̿̓͒͊͘w͊ͬ̄ͨ̉̈́҉̞̺͔͍o̞͍̍͒ͩͮ̂ͥ̅͞ū̻̺̣̱̼̤̓̓ͨͣl̴̛̹̝̺̱̬̥̗͓̍͂d̛̻̼̬͛͛̇̉ͬͨͦ̕͡ ̧̲̫͋̆s̨̛̱̠̟͂̈̏l̶̺͕͓̝̮̭̅͐̄̑̇̀̚ï̢͍͈͋ͧ̈̒p̶̢͙͙͉ͦ̿͊ ̥̜̓͒͊͊ͬ̚p̻͔͎ͭ͗͟a̮̺̭̱̞̲͚̜ͯ͂̍̀̃̽́͘ͅs̡͌̓̒҉̛̙̦̳͓̲̩t͌̊̓ͫ͗̍͆̚͏̡͙ ̵̇̐͗͏͖̤̻͍͖̜̖̻̱m̸͚̟͖͗̈́ͤͨͪͯͧ͘ÿͧͧ̐̈͒̾͘҉̝͖͓̬̪͖̰ ̷̦̘͖̟͚̣͂̈͐̋ͫ̋̋ṡ̵̝͔̤̪̖̟͈́͂͋̾̄ͧͦ͟i̡̝̩̥̠ͥͭģ̢̮̲̰͙̆̆͋̇̍̈́ͥͣḣ̳͔͍̫͜ͅͅ!"t̡̩̩̹̫̪͐ͤ̽̅͛ͤͪ_

Sudden, horrible realization crashed over Ariadne as all the inconsistencies snapped into place; The statues, kobolds and minotaur's working together, the strange smooth tunnels, and now the language from the outer reaches.

Blood ran cold in her veins. "Oh no," she whispered.

_"I̙̼̞̹̘̼̺͊̊̄̓ͣ͒͋͡ ̷̴̝͇̪̱̠̇ͮ̍͠s̮̜̬͗͛̾̿̍̆̚eͧ̒҉̶͚̗͕̝̼̣͞ȩ͍̮ͭͤ̈́̚ ̀̓͏̭̭̯͔̼a͕ͭ̓ͣ̈ͩ̈̒͂l̷̩̍̋̐̃͗l̙̼͙̓̓̊̏̋ͬͮͥ!̛̣̲̮̳̼̝̘̮̂̏"_

It emerged from one of the holes in the ceiling, floating at the edges of the torchlight. Five feet across, firelight danced over purple-blue pebbled skin and an unblinking eye; jagged violet iris set above the large grinning mouth that dominated its bulbous body. Tendrils, thick as a person's wrist stuck out from its form, each topped with other, smaller eyes that tracked over the adventurers.

"We need to run!" Ariadne yelled, stumbling back. Even given a chance to prepare, she wasn't sure they could defeat one of these abominations on its own; let alone while beset by a hoard of kobolds and minotaur.

Its main eye swiveled towards her. Her wards, her arcane protection, the very connection to magic she'd worked for years to build all but disappeared; supressed by its gaze. She drew the rarely used dagger from her belt, trying to keep her hands from shaking.

Menia glanced over her shoulder, surprised at the naked _fear_ in Ariadne's voice.

But they trusted each other and knew better than to argue.

"Fall back!" Adrik pulled his javelin from the minotaur's chest. It had fallen to its knees, staring at the ropey entrails spilling from the cut in its stomach; frantically trying to stuff them back in as its vitality bled away.

High above, one of the eyes flashed and Adrik stopped. He lowered his sword, confused. He tried to remember why he was fighting. Something deep inside told him the creature up above meant them no harm. This was just a misunderstanding. It was their ally.

A kobold lunged at him, darting around the dying minotaur to take advantage of his distraction. Battle conditioned reflexes took hold even with his thoughts muddled and he twisted away. The dagger drawing a thin line of blood across his throat instead of opening it wide.

Pain brought clarity. It refocused his mind and broke the abomination's charm. Adrik slammed his shield into the creature's chest, sending it stumbling away as he began to fall back towards his companions.

"Meni, we're coming to you. Make a hole!"

Letting the warhammer dangle from the strap around her wrist, Menia extended her hands; thumbs together, fingers spread. With a pang of regret, she spoke a prayer. Roaring flame sprang from her palms and washed over the kobolds between her and the tunnels, drowning out their piercing shrieks. The flames faded, heat haze radiated from the stones. The air filled with the smell of cooked meat and rendered fat. "Clear!"

A ray from one of the eyes struck her in the chest.

Like a hammer blow, the air was knocked from her lungs. She stumbled and fell to one knee. Her weapon and shield clattered to the ground. Her chest ached, her limbs leaden, and every breath was an effort, and her head throbbed with pain. Exhaustion overtook her, like a piece of her vitality had been ripped away.

* * *

Venner put his last arrow through a kobold throat.

Heartbeats passed before another reluctantly poked its head around the tunnels entrance. When it saw his empty quiver, it let out a triumphant cry; quickly picked up by its brethren and charged him with a short spear.

High above, another eye flashed and a beam struck Venner from behind.

Fear rose up in his chest.

The shadows darkened. There were so many of them and they just kept coming! Firelight danced on the kobolds reptilian faces, throwing them into sharp, horrifying relief. He could see scraps of flesh caught between jagged, razor sharp teeth. Beady eyes wide with naked hunger. The point of its crude spear still wickedly sharp. A necklace of fingers, some with the nail still attached hung around its neck, bouncing against its chest as it rushed him.

With an effort of will, he quashed the unnatural terror and stood his ground; refusing to allow it to take hold.

Dodging the thrust spear, he grabbed the hilt of his short sword with his left hand and the scabbard with his right as he stepped up to the creature, just inside its reach. He half drew the blade. The pommel slamming up into the kobold's jaw, snapping its head back. It toppled in a spray of blood and broken teeth.

He stepped back, glancing over his shoulder. He twisted a split second before a yellow beam shot from one of the aberration's eyes and streaked through the space he would have been as he began falling back.

* * *

Adrik's sword cut through a kobold's knee and it toppled to the wooden platform as he started to back towards his companions.

A purple beam grazed his thigh and he stumbled, barely keeping his feet. His leg was numb. Adrik looked down and watched the colour bleed from his armor and the leather underneath, becoming granite gray. Spreading up his leg. Rooting him in place.

Adrik strained his stiffening muscles, swinging his blade down through a kobold's shoulder and chest before turning to look back towards his companions.

Out of the corner of his eye, Venner caught the movement and watched the armor covering Adrik's stomach turn to stone. It was spreading up his chest. His neck. Across his face. Meeting Venner's eyes, his body numb and cold the only thing Adrik could do was cry out. "Run!"

Before Venner could take more than a step, a minotaur roared from behind the statue that had been Adrik Silverstone and shouldered it aside. Venner watched his friend's petrified form topple sideways into a basilisk pit.

Even over the battle he heard stone shatter when it hit the ground.

* * *

Menia pushed herself back to her feet, legs shaking. Gripping the symbol of The Lady around her neck for comfort, she saw how the battlefield had changed. Venner was only a few feet from her, expression pained. Their defensive line broken, kobolds and minotaur surged out of the tunnels towards them like the tide; closing on Ariadne's heels as she sprinted towards her and Venner. The shinning blade Menia had summoned winked out as the creature's eye tracked over them, grinning with sadistic glee.

"Go!" Ariadne urged, waving them on.

Adrenalin born of fear eclipsed the fatigue in Menia's bones. She snatched up her hammer and shield and started towards the tunnel to clear the path for her friends.

Venner pulled his knife from his belt and whipped it under Ariadne's arm. A kobold that had been gaining on her toppled, its fellows trampling heedlessly over it.

Ariadne was only twenty feet from him when a bullet from a sling took her in the neck. She wore no armor. Without her spells, without her wards, she had no protection.

Her body jerked; head snapping to one side and she crumpled, like a puppet with its strings cut.

The light in her eyes vanished.

And for the second time in almost as many seconds, Venner watched a friend die.

The flood of kobolds swallowed her body and Venner felt something break in his chest as he made the hard choice. He turned and ran down the tunnel after Menia.

Snarled cries followed close on Venner's heels as he sprinted down the tunnel. Long legs ate up the distance quickly and he gained on her.

Venner heard a snarled curse behind him. A burst of heat exploded against the tunnel wall and he stumbled, barely keeping his feet as two more streaked past. Another exploded against the cavern wall, but the second took Menia in the back and sent her sprawling to the ground. She didn't get up.

"Meni!" He slid to a halt next to her. A section of her armor was melted clean through. The leather jerkin charred to ash and the skin underneath burned and blistered raw and red. But she was breathing, if unconscious. She whimpered when he rolled her onto her back.

Down the hall a minotaur let out a triumphant roar the kobolds quickly picked up. Venner couldn't hold them himself.

He reached for the necklace that hung next to the symbol of The Lady around Menia's neck and ripped it free. The gold chain snapped easily and he hurled it towards the oncoming tide of teeth and blades as hard as he could.

Eight faintly luminous red beads on a delicate gold chain soared through the air. Two kobolds at the head of the charge reached for it greedily.

Venner threw his body over Menia's as one kobold shoved the other aside and caught it.

All eight beads on the Necklace of Fireballs detonated.

And the whole warren trembled.


	3. Chapter 3

Menia awoke in darkness.

Aching all over, throat dry, she tried to swallow and found something covering her mouth. Panic flared and she tried to move. Something pressed against her chest, pinning her to the floor. Pain exploded across her back. She grabbed at it, trying to twist away, and cried out through the gag, each movement fanning the searing pain in her back. There were two quick taps on her shoulder and she hesitated, panting.

"Little summer, it's me. Menia, stop."

She relaxed marginally. The gag was pulled out of her mouth.

"I needed to make sure you stayed quiet when you woke," Venner apologised, voice soft and barely audible in the darkness.

Menia nodded and tried to sit up, moving gingerly. Her whole body ached, and her stung with a horrible pain; but more than that she felt… diminished. Her body felt heavy and there was tightness in her chest and a weakness that hadn't been there before. She blinked her eyes a few times, wishing she shared Adrick and Venner's night sight. They were in a small cave, little more than an alcove and barely big enough for the both of them, probably off to one side of a tunnel. If she squinted she could just barely make out Venner keeping one eye on the entrance.

"What happened?" She croaked

Gently, Venner pressed the waterskin into her hand and she was careful to take small sips and not gulp it down.

"One of the kobold sorcerers hit you with a spell. Knocked you out. I used your necklace to collapse the tunnel behind us. Patched you up, but you should probably ask your friend for some help."

Menia reached back and felt missing section of her armor at her side, the melted metal links just next where her pack had been. Her fingers brushed over the burns Venner had smeared with one of his salves and she hissed as the pain flared again. Whispering a prayer, a different soothing warmth spread from her fingers into the burns and the worst of the pain faded.

She ran her fingers over the tingling, newly healed skin and breathed a sigh of relief.

"How many beads did you use?"

"All of them."

"All of them!" Menia flinched at her own exclamation, lowering her voice back to a whisper. "Sorry. I'm just surprised the whole hill didn't come down on us." She reached for the waterskin and took another small sip. "Where are Ari and Adrik?"

The question hung in the air a few moments.

"They didn't make it."

Sorrow welled up in Menia's chest. "What happened?"

"Meni, you don't need to-"

"Yes I do, Venner."

He told her and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"We have to get her body back."

"I don't want to leave her down here either, but they're looking for us-"

"I can bring her back."

She practically hear his head snapped towards her. "What?"

"If we can get her body and it's still in good shape… I think I can bring her back. Once we get somewhere safe." Menia took a deep breath. "I can't- There's nothing I can do for Adrick, but there's still a chance for Ari. But I need her body."

Silence returned and in the darkness Menia began to wonder if Venner was still even there.

"Okay." He said softly.

Menia started pushing herself to her feet and he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Pushing against his hand, he inhaled sharply but she simply didn't have the strength or leverage to stand with him fighting her.

"I can move faster on my own."

She wanted to argue. She didn't just want to sit here in the dark, waiting like a child. But he was right. It would be easier for him to slip past the patrols if he didn't have to mind her the whole time.

"Fine. Are you hurt?"

"I got hit by a piece of rubble when-"

"You brought half the damn warren down on us?"

"…Yes. Might have bruised some ribs."

She wasn't sure if he could see her roll her eyes in the dark but she did it anyways. Putting a hand on his chest, she spoke a prayer. Her palm grew warm and the heat flowed into Venner's body, her awareness spreading with it, into him; revealing the extent of his injuries even as the warmth soothed and healed them. Bruises faded and fractured bones knit back together.

"They were cracked, not bruised." She smacked him in the chest, right where the break had been. "Next time say something." She shook her head. "Stubborn ass."

He grunted and for a second she could see his teeth flash in the darkness.

"Yes mother."

Menia let herself relax back against the cave wall; her limbs leaden and a head throbbing. Even that relatively simple prayer had been draining.

_What happened to me?_

She didn't voice her concern, didn't let it show. Instead, she waved a hand at Venner, shooing him away. "Go on, I'll be fine. Bring her back to us."

Venner put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Then she was alone in the darkness.

* * *

Venner moved like a ghost through the tunnels. The warren was a twisted mass of seemingly random tunnels; but years navigating the treacherous Duskwood had instilled him with an almost preternatural sense of direction. Twice a kobold patrol passed close enough for him to reach out and touch; twice they'd moved on none the wiser.

It didn't take him long to find the trophy room again.

Scores of kobolds and minotaur lay dead on the floor, brought down by bow and blade and spell. They'd been left where they'd fallen by their fellows; their abominable overlord likely more concerned with finding him and Menia. He moved around and between them, disturbing as little as he could as he made his way to where Ariadne had fallen.

Her body was gone; though the belt where kept her pouches of components and spellbook lay on the floor, leather snapped where it had caught on a rock.

Ignored by both the kobolds and minotaur, dirty footprints had been tracked over the books back cover but otherwise it seemed intact; which was hardly surprising. The tome was Ariadne's most prized possessions and she'd spelled it against harm. Over the course of their travels he'd seen put through circumstances that would have reduced any normal book to a pile of ash or a sodden mess without so much as a creased page.

He picked it up carefully and tucked it into his pack; mindful of the other, more… aggressive protections attached to the tome.

Dozens of footprints covered the floor, tracking over each other in a way few would be able to make sense of. It took Venner a moment to find the ones he was looking for, picking out the drag marks and two pairs of three toed prints that accompanied them and the tunnel they led down, away from the others.

He set off after them.

* * *

The kobold threw another log on the cooking fire; stoking it higher with eager excitement. One of the elders had said the talking meat had wielded the arcane. Magic! He licked his chops eagerly, eyeing the meat where they'd dropped it on the floor of the cooking cave. If he ate the meats would he get the magic? Would the whole tribe? If they did there was a chance they'd have the ability to rid themselves of the Many Angry-Eyes.

Most of the tribe was hunting through the tunnels with the Tall Bulls for the talking meat that had escaped. They'd only lit a few torches, along with the cooking fire to avoid drawing attention.

Bad things would happen if the Tall Bulls or Many Angry-Eyes learned what they were planning.

His partner finished with the spit they would set the talking meat on and gestured at him to start preparing it.

Salivating and with a slowly growing ember of hope, he grabbed the large square bladed knife from where he'd left it. The blade was chipped and beginning to grow the red-brown mold metal sometimes did, but it could still cleave bone with a few strikes.

Stretching out one of the meat's limp arms, he lined the blade up with its shoulder-

All the fires went out.

He cried out, dropping the arm. Whirling as they were plunged into darkness. The air in the cavern was colder now. He could feel the sluggishness it brought. Blinking his eyes furiously, he called out for his partner, holding the large knife before him.

A line of burning cold kissed across his throat. He turned again. Or tried too. Cold was making things funny. The world was slowing down even as his eyes adjusted.

_Why was everything falling over?_

The kobold was dead when it hit the ground.

* * *

Arterial spray, frozen in midair tinkled musically as it hit the cavern floor. With Pyrebane drawn, hoarfrost had already formed on Venner's bracers and his breath misted in the darkness as the temperature around him plummeted sharply. Kobold blood ran down the fae blade's silvery length, freezing as it dripped off the metal onto the floor. A flick of his wrist dislodged most of it, flash-frozen droplets chiming as they left the blade and bounced across the stone. Sheathing Pyrabane, he crouched next to Ariadne's body.

Grief twisted in his stomach and tried to crawl it's was up his throat. Tears started to burn in his eyes and with an effort he forced it all back down. He kept a tight grip on the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him at the sight of her like this.

Lifeless. Broken.

The Silver Queen was not one for sympathy. You grieved when you were lit by the safety of your hearth's fire. In the Duskwood, letting your feelings distract you could only mean more death. Survival came first and right now they were still deep in the woods. Menia was still in danger. The kobolds and minotaurs were looking for them, or worse yet, that abomination.

Marshalling his feelings, he lifted her as carefully as he could over his right shoulder and set back down the tunnels.

* * *

Sitting by herself, alone in the dark, time was an impossible thing for Menia to track. Her head ached, but it was a familiar discomfort, separate from the weariness that had wormed itself into her bones; like she'd spent to long staring at the sun.

In a way she had, after all. People were often confused when it came to the gods. To most they were simply abstract thing; if you did something that angered them maybe your crops failed or your luck would turn. The number of people who could call on and use their power directly was very small, even among devout worhsipers and members of the faith. She'd lost count of the times she'd had to explain why she didn't call on The Lady to solve every problem; she was just a conduit for The Lady's warmth and light. So bright, that like the sun too much would strike you blind.

In her research during their travels, stories told of a time when the gods had been free to directly influence the world, but since the Cloudfall they'd been sealed away; relegated to only exercising their will and power through certain individuals and worshippers. And while the divine's power was great, their followers were only mortal. Fragile beings of flesh and bone.

A water skin can't hold the ocean. No matter how pious.

She fondled the symbol of The Lady around her neck, only dimly aware of the missing beads of the Necklace of Fireball. Eyes closed, she reached for the connection.

The reply was simple and without fanfare. A feeling, more than anything tangible. Sitting with an old and trusted friend in comfortable silence. Reminding her she was never alone. It helped in a way she'd never been able to articulate. The tightness in her chest abating slightly, stilling the nervous anxiety that thrummed through her at being unable to do anything but sit and wait.

"Menia?" The voice was so soft for a moment she wasn't sure she heard it. Her subconscious playing the tricks it sometimes did when looking for something to ascribe the sourceless comfort to.

"Meni." She blinked her eyes open and watched a patch of shadows shift as Venner crouched down, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She put a hand on his, but couldn't make much out in the dark. "Did you find her?"

"I've got her."

"Is she-" She caught herself before saying 'okay'. "Intact?"

"Yes. Our problem's going to be escaping. Kobolds are combing the tunnels. Minautors probably guarding the exits."

"Hopefully they haven't found the horses."

He helped her up and Menia rolled her shoulders, trying to ignore the exhaustion that suffused her.

"You remember what I taught you?"

"Watch where you step. Place my feet carefully. Try to keep my movements fluid. Not jerky."

He nodded approvingly, adjusting her armor and tightening the straps of her pack as she pulled it on to help keep anything from rattling. Then he bent down to pick up Ariadne's still form where Menia only just realized he'd set her down and draping her over his shoulder. They stepped back into the tunnels. In the dim light of the torches occasionally set into the cave wall, Menia half expected the heiress to cross her arms and petulantly complain about the indignity of being carried like a sack of grain.

But she didn't move. Didn't raise her head.

It broke Menia's heart to see her friend like that and she gripped her weapon as she followed Venner down the tunnels.

They moved in silence, trusting Venner's innate sense of direction to guide them back the way they'd come. The tunnels were eerily empty. Occasionally, at a fork or intersection he'd hold up a hand to stop, listening to something Menia couldn't hear before starting off again.

More than once Menia wondered if the lack of opposition was because of how many lay dead in the trophy room or if Venner was simply adept enough to silently guide them around any patrols they might have encountered. The truth was likely a combination of the two.

It seemed like they'd been walking for hours; the stone walls just featureless and unremarkable as the rest when Venner held up a hand and they stopped at another junction in the tunnel. Closing her eyes and straining her senses, Menia just barely felt a slight breeze against her right cheek, stirring her hair.

Opening her eyes again, Venner made a few quick hand signals. The exit was just around the corner, they needed to move even more carefully in case they'd thought to station more guards.

Edging forwards, Venner peered around the corner for a moment and used more signs to tell her what he saw. Kobolds and minotaur both. Too many for them to fight through or sneak past in the shape they were in. He'd lost his bow in the collapse and she had all but reached her limit on power she could safely channel. They needed to find another way out.

Menia shook her head. If they were guarding this exit, they'd be guarding the others and the longer they spent in the warren, the more likely they'd be discovered.

What she didn't tell him was how her own strength was failing. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up. They needed to get out now.

* * *

Something slid across the stone floor and the minotaur snapped around, hefting his great sword as the small, doglike dragon-kin squealed in surprise, fumbling with their weapons to look down the tunnel entrance.

A large book lay in the middle of the intersecting tunnels and he narrowed his dark eyes suspiciously.

His mate moved up beside him carefully with her great axe as they studied the tome. The intruders had been crafty and underhanded in their infiltration and they were on guard for any further surprises.

He called out for a kobold and one was shoved forwards by its fellows, clutching a spear nervously against its chest. Snorting out an order, he motioned for it to investigate the tome.

It shuffled forwards reluctantly and with a huff of distain his mate sent it stumbling forward with a rough shove. Barely catching itself before tripping over the tome, the dragon-kin glanced back at them and then reached out hesitantly with its spear.

It prodded the front cover, jumping back like it expected the tome to lash out like some beast. Nothing happened.

With growing confidence, it prodded the tome again. And then again, all to no effect.

Grinning triumphantly, it looked at the pair of minotaurs for further instruction.

Eyes narrowed, the larger of the pair gestured for the tome to be brought over. Shouldering its spear, the small dragon-kin struggled to pick up the large tome, scurrying back and offering it up. The minotaur took it in one hand, turning it over and examining the heavy covers. His mate and the kobolds all crowded in closer, curious. Handing his sword to his mate, he slowly opened the cover and there was a flash as the warding glyph on Ariadne's spellbook triggered.

* * *

Menia and Venner shielded their faces and turned their heads away as a gust of scalding air surged around the bend in the tunnel in the wake of the detonation.

They barely gave it time to subside, Menia taking point in front of Venner, Ariadne still draped across his shoulder as they came around the corner. The spellbook lay open in the center of the tunnel, sitting untouched by the detonation.

The same could not be said for those who'd been around it. Bodies, and parts of bodies scattered by the explosion littered the cavern entrance, radiating out from the spellbook.

Menia felt a twinge of regret at the carnage. What it had come to.

An armless minotaur corpse slumped against a wall, the scorched bone of its ribcage poking through where the skin and muscle of its chest had been burned away. A charred and blackened kobold leg, the rest of its former owner nowhere in sight, off to one side. Another kobold, flesh drooping like melted candlewax tossed over one of the still burning crates nearby.

Menia clutched the symbol around her neck and muttered a quick prayer for the poor creatures. Ariadne's ward had been potent. Despite the horrific state of their bodies, they would have died quickly and without much pain. Or so she hoped.

She hated this.

There were campaigners who relished it in testing their skill. The fighting and death, 'smiting the wicked', relishing in the 'necessary evil' of violence. But not Menia. There was just too much compassion in her. She lived to help and there was already so much unnecessary evil in the world; her heart broke each and every time she was forced to strike another creature down.

They moved carefully around the supplies and corpses still burning in the aftermath of Ariadne's spell. Venner bent to recover the spellbook as Menia cast a tired eye across the carnage.

One of the bodies moved.

A female minotaur pushed herself laboriously to her feet. One eye was wild with agony, the other clouded and sightless, flash-boiled in her skull by the heat of the blast. Her chest worked as she strained to stand, leaning heavily on her axe like a crutch. Body burned so badly shadows of bone could be seen shifting under the melted tallow of her flesh.

"Oh gods," Menia took a hesitant step towards her, horrified. "Just lie down. I can help." She still had enough for a prayer to help ease the worst of the creature's suffering.

Struggling, the minotaur hefted her axe.

"Please! Let me help."

She swung the axe clumsily, stumbling as her charred leg gave out. Menia turned the blow aside easily with her shield. "I can help!"

With a weak snarl, the minotaur tossed its head, trying to gore Menia with her horns. Menia danced back, frustrated tears burning in her eyes.

The last of the minotaurs strength failed and she collapsed onto her knees, bloody foam collecting at the corner of her mouth. The single wild eye fixed on Menia, unwilling to give up the fight even as its body slowly started to realize it was dead.

The burns were fatal. Maybe not in and of themselves but without constant care or powerful magics, they were all but guaranteed to become infected. Death would be slow and painful.

Regretfully, Menia stepped around the minotaur, still wary of her horns as it tried to turn its head to follow her. "I'm sorry." She brought her hammer down on the back of its head, right where its neck met the skull. A tear ran down her cheek and she bit back a frustrated sob.

She could have helped.

"Menia-" Venner started.

She took a deep breath. "Don't, Venner. Let's just… go."

He didn't press, slipping Ariadne's book into his pack as Menia turned from the minotaur. They didn't speak as they picked their way over the other bodies to the mouth of the cavern and out into the cool evening air.


	4. Chapter 4

"Everybody out! We need the room." The halfling woman's voice cut through the din as she strode into the tavern, a tall figure in a dark cloak with a woman's limp form draped over one shoulder following after her.

The spiky haired human barkeep looked up, "wha-"

Menia threw a handful of coin onto the bar. Silver, gold and platinum in a myriad of currencies glittered; more wealth than anyone from the village had ever seen in their life.

Hurriedly snatching up the small fortune, he turned to the patrons. "You 'eard the lady, we're closed. Everybody out!"

Confusion turned to grumbled complaints as the patrons gathered their things, draining whatever was left in their tankards and making their way towards the door. They gave the ratcatchers -because what else could they be- a wide, wary berth as Menia cleared off one of the larger tables and Venner carefully laid Ariadne's body upon it.

But the blacksmith's son didn't move from his seat.

Earlier he'd seen Dione, the milkmaid laughing with one of the farmhands. Touching his arm and blushing when he'd leaned in close to whisper something in her ear. The last few hours had been spent with his friends, marinating his frustration in bitter ale. Flush with alcohol and the invincible feeling of youth; bristling for a fight, he slammed a fist on table and glowered at the Halfling woman and the bartender. "You can't jus-"

Venner bounced his face off the tabletop. Tankards rattled, scattering and he crumpled in a unconcious heap. Grabbing him by the arm, Venner dragged his limp form over to the tavern's door and unceremoniously threw him out. His friends, shocked and wide eyed, scurried after without a word.

Normally Menia would have chastised him sharply for such behavior but she was too preoccupied remembering the ritual to call back Ariadne's soul.

Eyeing the ranger, wary of what he'd just done to the blacksmith's son and the apparent _corpse_ on his table, the bartender gingerly edged towards the halfling woman. She seemed the less volatile of the pair.

"M'lady?" He addressed her with a careful politeness. She didn't hear. "My lady?" He swallowed nervously when she fixed him with her gaze. Deep brown eyes that seemed to stare into the depths of his soul. "Is there anything I can get you, or your…" he coughed, "companion?"

She blinked a few times and only then seemed to register his presence. "Oh, yes. Kalliope, the blonde woman we rented our rooms with is still upstairs. Could you fetch her, please?"

"Of course." He paused, then bowed awkwardly; adventurers were something of a grey area in the social structure and society, so he erred on the side of caution and treat them like nobility. As he started to go when she spoke again, her voice soft as she looked at the body laid out on the table, gently fixing her hair.

"She likes spiced wine."

The bartender glanced down at the body and swallowed. "Y-your friend in the room?" He hazarded slowly. Hopefully.

Menia continued like she hadn't heard. "Could you prepare some for us? And five cups?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat, reconsidering his life choices as he bowed deeply once more. "Of course, my lady." He turned to go and squeaked in surprise when he nearly ran into Venner's towering form.

Venner barely acknowledged the nervous bartender, pushing him aside and moving to join Menia at the table as the bartender hurried over to the kitchen, hissing at one of the barmaids to prepare the wine before disappearing up the stairs.

"What can I do?" Venner said as Menia used a piece of chalk to mark the liquor stained wood around Ariadne's body with prayer symbols.

"We need that diamond we found a few weeks ago."

He pulled the uncut gem from his pack, half the size of a child's fist and handed it to her. "Will the ritual destroy it?

Menia wrapped Ariadne's hands around the gem and rested it on her chest before continuing with the symbols. "Consume it. And yes."

"She won't be happy to hear that."

"And I will listen gratefully to every one of her complaints."

Hurried footsteps down the stairs preceded a blonde woman in her late twenties, healer's kit tucked under one arm. Her blue dress tasteful and only slightly less fashionable than Ariadne's; as expected of the handmaiden of a great and noble merchant house's daughter.

"I didn't think you'd be back until the morning Lady Kle-" Seeing Ariadne on the table stopped her cold. The healer's kit tumbled from her fingers and bounced open against the floor, clean white bandages rolling along the floor. "Oh gods, Ari!"

She ran forwards, all sense of propriety forgotten and Venner barely managed to catch her before she could throw herself on Ariadne's body. Tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled against his hold.

"Kallie. Kalliope. Listen to me. Menia's going to bring her back. There's a prayer. A ritual. Menia's going to fix her."

Kalliope's struggles slowed and then stopped as the words sunk in until Venner wasn't restraining her as much as holding her up. Her grip white knuckled on his bracer as she tried to process what she was hearing. She found her footing and gradually relaxed her hold; patting his arm before wiping her eyes with a handkerchief from her sleeve.

"Menia?" she sniffled, a desperate hope in her eyes.

Menia paused as she took the prayer candles from her pack and laid them around the body. "I'll need your help. You too, Venner. It'll take the three of us to call her back."

Kalliope nodded and took a few breaths to try and compose herself, glancing around. "What about Adrick? Where's Adrick?"

The reminder made Menia's chest pang and her hands shook as she tried to light the candles. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a deep steadying breath.

Venner put a hand on Kalliope's shoulder, his voice soft. "There was something in the cave, controlling the kobolds. Ariadne said it was an aberration. From the beyond the veil. It got him."

Fresh tears rolled down Kalliope's cheeks and she beat a fist against Venner's chest. "Damn it!" He pulled her into a tight hug as she choked out a sob.

"I know." He murmured into her hair. "I know. But we can still help Ariadne. Just think about her right now."

With a jerky nod and a deep breath, Kalliope eased herself from Venner's embrace. Edging over to Menia, her eyes were fixed on Ariadne's still form. Candles had been set at each corner of the table and Menia gestured for her to take a seat on the bench.

Venner was about to join them when there was a quiet voice behind him. "M'lord?"

A nervous serving girl, studiously trying to avoid looking directly at any of them held a tray with five cups and a steaming tin kettle. He gestured for her to set it on a nearby table and the moment she had, she all but fled back towards the kitchen; peeking less-than-surreptitiously around the door with her friend.

Venner sat next to Kalliope, and Menia took a seat across the table from them. "What do we need to do?"

"We each need to make a… contribution." Menia said. "A plea or an offer or something to call her spirit back. Something personal is supposed to be best. Something she'd appreciate." She smiled weakly. "I'll go first. Just… do what feels right."

Closing her eyes, Menia took a deep breath, putting her hands on the edge of the table. A low energy seemed to suffuse the air, like the charge before a storm. The lanterns and candles illuminating the tavern seemed to grow a little dimmer just as those at the corners of the table seemed to glow a little brighter.

"Ariadne Kleio," Menia spoke softly. "Your light was extinguished before it's time. There's so much more for you to do. For you to see and learn. You brought the hope and light of knowledge to so many, touching your flame to theirs and helping them shine so much brighter for it; but there are still more for you to bring into the light. Your candle has not yet burned down."

A sound filled the air. A single sustained note, high and pure at the very edge of hearing; a finger around the rim of a wine glass. The symbols around the table began to glow and the yellow flames of the candles at the corners flickered to pure, brilliant white.

Menia blinked her eyes open and nodded at Venner. He looked down at Ariadne's body.

"I have watched you outwit both men and monster who were stupid enough to underestimate you. I have stood beside you against the priests of dark gods and shared drinks with you by the warmth of a fire. There are few I'm proud to call my friend, but you stand tall among them. I already lost one of my friends today, do not make me say goodbye to another."

The symbols glowed brighter and the chime grew more intense. All around the tavern, the lanterns and candles, even the fire in the fireplace grew dim; their flames shrinking to mere pinpricks. Their light a pale imitation of the white radiance that shone from the small prayer candles, banishing the shadows from every corner of the room.

From behind the bar and the door to the kitchen, the inns staffed watched with wide eyed amazement.

Menia and Venner both looked to Kalliope, but her tear filled eyes had never left Ariadne. She took a deep, shuddering breath but when she spoke her voice was strong.

"Ari, I have known you my entire life. I was there when you were fifteen and promised magister Fautus you'd have him reinstated. In two days you persuaded the lyceum council to reverse their vote. I was there when you promised the people of Cardim you'd save their children. The four of you marched into that forest, cut down the hag coven and all their minions and brought every single one of those kids back to their parents. And when we started campaigning you promised that you would always come back to me!" She choked out a sob. "You have never broken a promise in your life and I _refuse_ to let you start now!"

She had barely finished speaking when the light flared and the sourceless note that filled the air reached its crescendo.

Then the light winked out and the sound vanished, leaving them blinking their eyes in the sudden silence.

And the tavern door slammed open.


	5. Chapter 5

Half a dozen guardsmen in studded leather stormed into the tavern, swords draw and shields up.

Venner was on his feet in a blur; putting himself between them and the table, sword half drawn. The bartender let out a shrill cry, diving down behind the bar.

"Throw down your weapons!"

"Surrender!"

"Get down!"

The guard's cries overlapped as they took up position, shoulder to shoulder in front of the door. They came up short in confusion when they finally got a good look at the tavern's occupants and the scene in front of them.

One of them -the captain- frowned from under his helmet, stepping forward. "Someone said bandits had taken over the tavern."

"We're not bandits," Menia said with a friendly smile.

"I can see that!" The guard captain snapped before he composed himself, eyeing them critically. Well-worn armor and weapons, relatively unconcerned bearing despite the blades leveled at them. "Campaigners then?"

Menia nodded.

He muttered something that sounded like "blighted ratcatchers."

"I mean, we did sort of take over the tavern, but we paid up front."

The captain glanced over at the bar, "That true, Hektor?"

"Yes." A shaky voice stammered from behind it.

"The big one tried to kill me!" A small crowd with more curiosity than sense had gathered outside at the commotion, peeking through the door over the watches shoulders. The blacksmith's recovering son evidently among them.

"Venner, you didn't!" Menia chided, her tone disappointed and the Venner shifted awkwardly, abashed; apparently more uncomfortable at her tone than the weapons leveled at them.

The captain looked Venner up and down; taking in the dark hair and demi-elf features. "Talim?"

Venner grunted in affirmative, still ready to draw Pyrebane.

"Ranger?"

"Duskwood."

"Of course," the watch captain cursed under his breath. The other watchmen shifted with new wariness and a murmur went through the crowd behind them.

Legends of the Talim Duskwood were told across the world. The ancient northern wildwood of the frigid islands where the boundary between the mortal realm and the Other was gossamer thin. Where the trees moved and a single misstep could carry you through the veil and into the land of the mercurial sidhe, unlikely to return. The men and women who patrolled that boundary between civilization and the land of fae were rumored to be on par with the Deathless Queen's Redguard, the Commonwealth's sappers, or the Ordos Arcanum. Those that weren't didn't last long.

"Aureilus, son I can assure you if that man had tried to kill you, you'd probably be dead." The captain was weighing his options and liking none of them. Violence couldn't go unanswered but he doubted he and the others could take the ranger in a fight, even if the Halfling woman and the blonde weren't half as dangerous as he was. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, headache blossoming. "You can't… assault the townsfolk."

"You'll have to excuse my companions."

Kalliope let out a startled gasp. Behind the bar Hektor, who had just started to poke his head out, fainted outright.

Ariadne had sat up on the table and turned to face the guards.

"It's been a trying day," she smoothed her dress and made to stand, slipping off the edge of the table. Her legs nearly gave out under her and Kalliope hurriedly slipped an arm around her. Ariadne put a grateful hand on her shoulder.

"And you are?" The watch captain's tone was wary and tinged with exasperation. At this point he almost didn't want to know. _Ratcatchers._

"Please excuse my manners. As I said, it's been a trying day." Ariadne straightened. Chin up, shoulders back. Her dress was dirtied and bloody, torn in places, but her regal bearing shone through; resplendent, even leaning on her friend. "I am lady Ariadne Kleio, first of my name. Daughter of Floriana Kleio of the great and noble merchant house Kleio, master Abjurer of the arts arcane."

The captain almost laughed. Half the guards started lowering their weapons, exchanging nervous looks.

He'd have never believed that a conflict involving a Duskwood ranger of all things could get even more complicated; but attempting to arrest, let alone attacking a wizard who also happened to be the daughter of Floriana Kleio –the merchant queen herself- was political suicide bordering on actual suicide.

With her political connections alone she could destroy the town in a dozen different ways.

Which made her next words all the more surprising. "We will gladly supply a wergild to the young man for any harm caused. Four hundred pieces of gold should suffice, yes?"

One of the guards made a choking sound.

"I… believe that would be acceptable." The captain barely managed to keep his own composure; both stunned at the generosity of her offer and contemptuous at the offhand way she offered more coin than most saw in years of hard work like it was spare change.

"…hit me for four hundred gold," one of the guards muttered, clamming up at the captain's glare.

Ariadne looked to Kalliope. "If you could fetch the coin from our room."

Kalliope hesitated, but Ariadne seemed to have regained strength enough to stand on her own.

"I'll be fine." She assured her softly, giving the Kalliope's shoulder a gentle squeeze. Menia had come around the table, close enough for Ariadne to lean on if she needed to.

"Oh course, Lady Kleio." With a grateful nod to Menia, Kalliope gingerly eased her arm from around Ariadne and when she was satisfied Ariadne wouldn't collapse, made her way upstairs; leaving the trio in tense silence with the town watch.

"Unfortunately, we also have a warning," Menia said, after a moment.

The captain's eyes flicked to her. "Of course you do."

This is why he hated campaigners. Things were never simple. Digging up things best left buried. Bringing trouble, if not outright disaster wherever they went.

"There's an aberration in the hills to the west," Ariadne said.

A series of worried murmurs went through the watchmen and the crowd behind them. Not that any of them knew what an aberration was, but if a Wizard and Duskwood ranger were worried about it, it must certainly be cause for alarm.

"An abomination. From the outer reaches of the Other," she clarified, for all the good it did.

"It's already subjugated a tribe of kobolds and minotaur's." Menia said. "You may be far enough out of its way for it to leave you alone, but you should be aware. They've been launching raids on merchants and travelers passing through the hills."

The captain narrowed his eyes. He didn't doubt their warning, they'd known something had been driving the normally unobtrusive kobold tribes to attack people, but they were still putting together the funds to sponsor an adventuring party and take them out. It was sounding like they were going to need a lot more.

Before he could answer Kalliope returned from upstairs, carrying a jingling purse. She offered it to the captain and he passed it off to one of the other guards, keeping his eyes on the campaigners.

"If that concludes our business, my companions and I would like some privacy." Ariadne smiled the incredibly polite, incredibly condescending smile that came from a lifetime of noble grooming. "It seems we have rented the tavern, after all."

The captain's jaw twitched at the dismissal. "I don't think there's anything else." He bowed curtly, a perfunctory acknowledgement of her station. "My lady." If Ariadne caught the disdain in his voice, she ignored it. The other guards echoed their captain with varying degrees of actual reverence as they filled out of the tavern, pulling the door closed behind them.

Ariadne turned to the pair of serving girls watching from the kitchen door.

"If we could get some wine and five-"

"Lady Kleio," Kalliope gestured to the wine and glasses that had been brought for them earlier.

"Oh. Well, in that case I don't believe we'll be needing anything else for the evening. If you could collect the barkeep, we'd like some privacy."

The serving girls bowed and hurried to help the slowly rousing Hektor to his feet, ushering him out.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Ariadne collapsed onto the bench with a ragged exhalation. Her hands were trembling as she reached up and brushed back her hair. She glanced at Menia and Venner.

"Could one of you please explain to me what just happened." Closing her eye, she rolled her neck with a soft groan. "And why my neck is absolutely killing me."

They exchanged a look and sat down across from her at the table. Kalliope sat down next to Ariadne, putting an arm tenderly around her waist as Venner began filling their tankards.

"You… died, Ari." Menia said gently, reaching across the table to put a hand on Ariadne's. The ritual had seared the prayer markings into the wood.

"Oh." Ariadne blinked and looked down at herself for a moment. "Well, it seems I got better."

"I used a prayer. A ritual. With The Lady's help we called your spirit back to your body."

Ariadne raised the glass Venner handed her in a quick salute, "Menia my dear, have I told you that you are just magnificent?" She sipped the wine, and glanced around. "Where's Adrik? I can't help thinking he might have handled that situation a touch more diplomatically than I did. He's always been better with the common folk."

Menia and Venner shared another glance. Kalliope bowed her head and dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. They'd set the fifth cup before an empty seat.

"He didn't make it Ari."

Ariadne faltered; just for a moment before her usual confidence reasserted itself "So you'll bring him back. That spell you used on me, you can do it again can't you?"

"It needs a body, Ari. And he wasn't…" Menia trailed off.

"The aberration turned him to stone. Like the other statues we saw in the trophy room."

"Well that's even easier. Menia's reversed petrification before."

Her tone was so sure, so confident Menia almost believed they could do it. Almost. Instead she shook her head. "If he had just been petrified I could undo it. But a minotaur knocked him in to the pits. Venner heard the stone break."

"And the basilisk would have eaten the pieces," Venner said.

Heavy silence settled around the table.

"There has to be a way," Ariadne said softly.

Menia sighed, "I've heard there are prayers of resurrection that don't require a body, but they're far beyond me."

"Do we know anyone who could?"

"The Dead Empress or her high priests, across the narrow sea," Menia shrugged. "But a favor like that would not come cheap. Or without all kinds of strings. If we could even get them to hear our case to begin with."

"He wouldn't want that," Venner said. "Not with a cost that steep."

"No," Ariadne agreed sadly. "He wouldn't." She slumped in her seat, leaning against Kalliope, who kissed her hair.

The silence returned and they sipped their wine, mindful of the empty seat at the table.

After a few moments, Venner raised his glass towards it, tears in his dark eyes. "In the Winter Queen's halls may he find his rest."

Kalliope recited the Commonwealth's soldiers' prayer, lifting her cup. "The shield that would not break, the sword that would not bend. Till his last breath, he held the line. We will not forget."

Ariadne straightening, raising her own glass. "May his scales return to balance and the trade winds be always at his back."

"Long shall his light burn." Menia finished. "Adrik Silverstone."

"Adrik Silverstone," they echoed.

They drank and again the silence returned.

It was Kalliope who broke it after a few minutes. "What do we do now?"

"His sister." Menia said. "She needs to know."

"This is not the sort of news you break in a letter," Ariadne said. "She- He deserves better than that."

The other's nodded.

"I'll go," Venner said.

Ariadne glanced knowingly at Kalliope. "I can't, can I?"

Kalliope squeezed her side sympathetically, shaking her head. "Your mothers letters are getting more insistent you return. Though she still refuses to say why."

Ariadne nodded and then glanced about conspiratorially. "I think we can all agree it would be best if my mother not know about this little… dying incident."

A murmur of ready agreement went around the table.

"You think we want to tell her?" Venner smiled wryly. "Why do you think we were so desperate to bring you back?"

Ariadne snorted out a laugh and Menia and Kalliope chuckled into their drinks, grateful for even a small break in the tension.

"We'll give you enough coin to make sure she's well taken care of. It's the least we can do."

Menia stared into her drink, acutely aware of the exhaustion that refused to leave her and hadn't lessened since the aberration's attack. The weariness in her bones. "I… I don't think I can go either." She said after a moment and concerned eyes turned to her. She stopped trying to hold herself together and the fatigue crashed over her like wave. "Something happened to me in the warren. The aberration, it did something to me. Took something from me. Part of me."

"We'll fix it." Venner said at the same time Ariadne asked, "What's wrong?" Voices full of concern and adamantine determination. Menia shook her head with a small, sad smile. Tears were blurring her eyes; not for herself and what she had lost, but for these friends and their readiness to throw themselves into the pit itself if that was what she needed of them.

"I don't think there's anything to be done." It was strange how admitting it out loud made it easier to come to terms with. "But I think it means my campaigning days are over."

Kalliope hesitated. "The Lady?"

"She's still with me." Menia assured her. "But I'm not sure this is something she would fix, even if she could. It's my burden to bear." She relaxed, beginning to feel more at ease as she voiced her decision. "It won't be so bad. Retirement actually sounds kind of nice. I can finally open that shop I talked about."

Venner leaned over and pulled her against him in a one armed hug. She hugged him back, wrapping her small arms as far around him as she could, burying her face in the folds of his cloak. When they separated she reached up and wiped his eyes.

"When will you leave?" She asked, knowing the answer. He wasn't the kind to put off what needed to be done.

"In the morning. I can make it to the coast in a day or two. Chart passage on a ship to the Commonwealth."

"Will you come back?"

"Always, little summer."

Ariadne poured the last of the wine into Venner's cup. "Perhaps I shouldn't have sent the bartender away," she mused, the mullstone rattling around the empty kettle. "This is hardly a fitting send-off."

"I've got just the thing," Menia smiled, rummaging through her pack for the bottle tightly wrapped in her bedroll -likely the only reason it had survived the cave in-.

Venner let out a resigned groan and Kalliope grinned when she set it on the table.

Ariadne smiled. "Now that is more appropriate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And as promised, the campaign comes to an end. This whole thing actually started as the backstory of an NPC in of my campaigns that just sort if grew into something bigger.
> 
> I decided to use it as an opportunity to work on my worldbuilding skills and you can be the judge of how well it went.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the ride.


End file.
